History of Masonry in the Philippines

When exactly Masonry was first brought to the country can not be ascertained on account of strict prohibitions against Masonry in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It was said that the British established a lodge here during their brief occupation from 1762 to 1764 but, records could not be found except for a letter in the Archives of the Indies in Seville, Spain, written by the Archbishop of Manila complaining about the desecration of the cathedral in Manila by the occupying British forces who used the church as a meeting place.

During the early nineteenth century, Spain was ruled by King Ferdinand VII, whose hatred of Masonry was in view of the liberalism that the Fraternity espoused. In Mexico and in Latin America, revolts were being led by Masons like Miguel Hidalgo (Mexico, 1810) and Simon Bolivar (liberator of South America).

The first official prohibition of Masonry that reached the Philippines was embodied in the Royal Letter Patent of January 19, 1812, issued in Cadiz by the Council of the Regency of Spain and the Indies, in behalf of the absent Ferdinand VII who was then a prisoner of the French.

In August 1824, in another Royal Letter Patent, Masonry was again peremptorily prohibited for the reason that – so said Ferdinand VII- “it was one of the main causes of revolution in Spain and in (Latin) America” (Kalaw 1920).

Timeline of Philippine colonial history

The first lodge on record established in the Philippines was Primera Luz Filipina, under the auspices of the Gran Oriente Lusitano of Portugal; organized in Kawit, Cavite in 1856 by a Spanish naval officer. This was followed by German, British and Spanish lodges operating under their respective Grand Jurisdictions. Spain was represented by two Grand Orients, the Gran Oriente de España and the Oriente Nacional de España. The merger of these two Grand Orients in Spain was alleged to be marred by election irregularities resulting in the departure of about ninety lodges which formed the Grande Oriente Español under the leadership of Grand Master Miguel Morayta in 1889. Morayta’s friendship with Filipino expatriates led to the organization of a predominantly Filipino Lodge in Barcelona, Logia Revolución and the revival of Logia Solidaridad in Madrid in 1890. With Logia Revolución dissolved, Logia Solidaridad became the lodge of Filipino Masons in Spain. In the same year, Marcelo del Pilar and Jose Rizal initiated plans to establish Filipino lodges in the Philippines under the Grande Oriente Español. By 1892 and before the 1896 revolution, when nationalistic fervor was at its highest, Filipino Masonry was well entrenched in spite of constant government persecution.